Constellation mirror

Object of desire The stunning sunburst style was très à la mode during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King - and indeed became a symbol of his court.

Constellation Mirror by Thomas Pheasant for Baker Furniture, (approx Dh29,900) from Obegi Home, Umm al Sheif Road, Umm Suqeim, Dubai; 04 394 8161

One of America's most respected interior designers and an avowed Francophile (he has owned an apartment in Paris since 2000), Thomas Pheasant may have looked for inspiration to 18th-century France for the design of this gorgeous mirror. The stunning sunburst style was très à la mode during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King - and indeed became a symbol of his court. Originally made of carved and gessoed wood, the sunburst form has been revived and adapted many times over, by designers as diverse as George Nelson (those very cool 1950s wall clocks) and Albert Hadley, the doyen of American interior designers and a leading proponent of the "modern Yankee aristocrat" look that Pheasant himself does so well.

In this version - produced by Baker Furniture to its usual meticulously high standards - Pheasant has kept the traditional convex mirror at the centre. (So, no, this will not be a mirror for checking that my lipstick is on straight). However, by making the "rays" of delicate golden metal and studding them with differently-sized discs of antiqued mirror glass, he has made it altogether softer, more elegant and more modern than its spikier forebears.

Put another way, it perfectly encapsulates Pheasant's fascination with what he calls "taking the familiar and making it new". With its airy lightness the Constellation is subtle; it's restrained but, at almost 1.4 metres in diameter, it's no trifle. To my mind, though, this star piece of design deserves a whole wall to itself. Constellation Mirror by Thomas Pheasant for Baker Furniture, (approx Dh29,900) from Obegi Home, Umm al Sheif Road, Umm Suqeim, Dubai; 04 394 8161